The Shiv Sena once again used its mouthpiece Saamana to launch a tirade against ally Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday accusing it of creating ‘instability’ in Maharashtra, which remains without a government even after 15 days of the assembly results being announced as the two allies continue to spar.
The two parties are locked in a power-struggle as the Sena is demanding chief minister’s chair for half the term, which the BJP has rejected. With not enough numbers, the BJP has decided not to stake claim to form a minority government. It is hoping to convince the Sena leadership to get on board in the few hours left before the tenure of the existing Assembly ends on midnight of November 9.
Titled ‘Complication and instability in Maharashtra due to BJP’, the Saamana write-up says, ”even after 14 days of the election results, the deadlock over government formation has not been resolved. The BJP, which is the single largest party met governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari but came back empty-handed, therefore the buzz that BJP will stake claim has fizzled out… Now all the political parties and the people have started saying that the instability and complication in Maharashtra is due to the BJP.”
In a day of fast-paced developments on Thursday, the Shiv Sena in a meeting chaired by its chief Uddhav Thackeray stuck to its stand that the chief minister must be from its party. As back channel talks continued, a BJP delegation met Koshiyari but just to ‘apprise’ him of the situation and not to stake claim.
The role of Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with its 54 MLAs, is seen as crucial in the current scenario. The party is also gearing up to work out an alternative plan, in case the saffron combine falls apart.
Pawar has called off his three-day tour of rain-affected areas and is expected to hold meetings with senior party leaders in Mumbai on Friday. The Congress, has asked all its newly-elected 44 MLAs to reach Mumbai, after a few of them complained to the party leadership that they were being wooed by the BJP to change sides. Both the Opposition parties alleged that the BJP was using various methods to poach their MLAs, as it is short of 25 for simple majority.
